Glycerine advancing as chemical, corn substitute

ORLANDO, Florida (ICIS news)--The US biodiesel industry needs to find new uses for glycerine "to stop the co-product from becoming the waste product", Soap and Detergent Association representative Kathy Stanton said on Monday.

Glycerine production will double by 2015 as the global biodiesel industry grows and the co-product output climbs alongside, Stanton told the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) conference in Orlando.

A single unit of glycerine is produced for each 10 units of biodiesel.

One potential high-volume use would be substitution of glycerine-based product for propylene glycol in engine coolant and anti-freeze applications, she said.

Automobile manufacturer Ford Motor was aiming to have 20% glycerine-based liquids in its vehicles' radiator systems by 2012, Stanton added.

Monty Kerley of the University of Missouri said studies show glycerine can be successfully substituted for corn and other feeds.

But livestock farmers were concerned about liability issues that might arise from the presence in crude glycerine of methanol, which is used in the biodiesel production process, he said.

"Every effort to maintain a low methanol value needs to be made," Kerley said.

Glycerine products provide a similar energy value to corn for poultry, swine, and both beef and dairy cattle.

Substitution for corn did not impact average daily weight gain in beef cattle until the level of glycerine reached 20% of the feed, Kerley said.

Bookmark Simon Robinson’s Big Biofuels Blog for some independent thinking on biofuels.

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